Ash-crushing and discharging device.



M. 'ALPEYRN.' ASH cRusHlNe ANDbrscHARGlNanevlcE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 611913- ]l9182,72& Patented May 9, 1916.

II-'. I- U- d l I @y 5.- www stradine rnrnnr oon i MAXWELL ALPERN, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN nisavee.

ENGINEERING COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 0F PENNSYLVANIA.

ASH CRUSHING AND DISCHARGING DEVICE.

App1ication lfiled. March 6, 1913. Serial No. 752,422.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MAXWELL ALPERN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Ash Crushing and Discharging Devices, of which the following is a specication.

One object of my invention is to provide a novel device for removing the ashes fro-m boiler furnaces which are supplied with fuel by means of mechanical stokers, the arrangement of parts being such that the apparatus may be used either continuously or intermittently to crush and discharge the ashes collecting at the rear of the Stoker.

I further desire to provide an ash discharging device which shall include a reciprocable member of peculiar form designed to co-act with a fixed abutm t for the purpose of crushing large masses of ash or clinkers so as to cause their removal without interfering with the proper operation of the furnace to which said device is attached; the invention contemplating novel means for permitting the discharge of the ash without material crushing if this should be desirable.

.Another object of my invention is to provide a crushing and discharging device so designed as to maintain an air-excluding" layer of ashes over its operating parts, the arrangement of the various parts preferably being such as to substantially reverse the direction of movement of the ashes so as to keep the hot clinker away from the bridge wall, although where the clinker has a low fusing point, this change of movement is o n'ot necessary.

rIhese objects and Vother advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevationnpartly in vertical section, illustrating the preferred form of my invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

'In the above drawings, 1 represents a portion of the setting of a boiler or other furnace having a bridge wall 2. The dead plate or lowest portion of the fuel burning portion of the furnace is shown at 3 and the rear-most part of this is spaced' away from,

the bridge wall or rear part of the furnace 2 to provide a deep transversely extending Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9?, 191156.

support a reciprocating crusher consisting of one or more sections 12, there being two of said sections in the present instance.

As indicated in Fig. 2, each of the reciprocating sections 1 2 has elongated recesses 13 forming tracks or guides for the reception of the supporting rollers 11 and the setting is cut away under the bridge wall 2 in order to .allow of the reciprocating sections being properly operated longitudinally of the furnace. Said sections have the form of a set of steps rising from the front of the furnace toward the rear so that the riser portions 14 constitute crushing or pressure exerting faces, while the parts corresponding to the treads of the step, serve to support the body of ashes.

Below the forward end of the reciprocatingsections there is provided a transversely extending redge supporting section 15 forming a Xed ash supporting surface upon which said forward ends of the crushing members slide. rlFhe rear face of the dead plate structure 3 has mounted on it a transversely extending projecting plate 16 under which is mounted a transverse shaft 17 rotatably carrying a relatively fixed abutment or crushing plate 18, there being in front of this plate a second transverse shaft 19 carrying a series of cams 20 which by proper adjustment of said second shaft may be made to engage and support the abutment or plate 18. On the other hand said shaft 19 may be turned by suitable means so as to remove this support for the plate 18 and thereby permit it to swing to the front on the shaft 17 as an aXis.

'For reciprocating the Crusher 12, any desired means may be employed, such for eX- ample, as a transverse shaft 21 mounted in suitable bearings carried by the stoker structure and provided with a series of arms 22,

each connected by a link 23 with the nfovable I through a link 25 with a crank 2G which maybe oscillated either continuously or .ntermittently as desired. Under operating aconditions the stoker deposits a mass of ashes in the cavity 4f and continuously adds to the'same as fuel is burned inthe furnace.

and links 23 causes the crusher v12 to move back and forth upon the rollers 11 at the bottom of the cavity 4f. Assuming that the shaft 19 is maintained in the position Shown in Fig. 1, with. its cams 20 supporting or bearing against the fixed lcrushing plate 18, every rearward movement of the member 12 allows a greater or less quantity of ash to move downwardly from in front of the plate 18 on to the fixed plate 15. As the Crusher 12 is moved to the front, this mass of ashes' on the plate 1,5 is pushed oli" or discharged into any suitable receptacle, while the mass between the risers la of the crushing member 12 and the fixed plate 1-8 is crushed or compressed to such an extent that upon the next rearward movement of said member 12, a greater or less quantity of the said material falls on to the plate l5 aS before. las a consequence of this operation, it is obvious that any clinkers discharged into the cavity 4 are sooner or later crushed or broken between the Crusher 12 and the plate 18 and are discharged in-small pieces over the plate 15.- At all times, however, there .is a relatively deep mass of ashes to the. rear of the plate 18 and above the. plate 15 within the cavity 4 so that the undesirable entrance of air to .the furnace is very eliectually prevented.

It is of course obvious that under certain conditions of operation of the Stoker it would not be necessary to continuously actuate the Crusher 12 and it would therefore be used only when. necessary to discharge the accumulated mass of ashes from the cavity 4. If for any reason it should be desired to remove the mass ofashes without crushing them and that at' 7Thiglier speed than would ordinarily be advisable, the shaft 19 is so rotated as to release the high parts of the cams 20 from the platev 18, thereby permitting this to swing forwardly under the action of the ashes propelled by the ymember 12. There is thus provided a relatively large outlet from the cavity 4 through which the successive reciprocations ofthe memberl 12 quickly discharge all the ashes which may have accumulated.

It is to be understood that the position of the plate 18 and hence the size of the opening between it and the adjacent part of the Crusher 12 may be varied by means of the shaft 19 and cams 20 in order to suit the apparatus for"operation with different. types of stokers and for different kinds of fuel. Obviously other means for adjusting the License plate 18 to vary the dimensions of the discharge opening may be employed 1n place of that shown, without departing from myv invention.

It will be understood that it is immaterial whether the structure 3 which carries the plate 16 and abutment 18 with their associated parts, is the wind box or the bridge wall; that is to say, while in the case illustinted, the ashes flow toward the reciprocatory sections 12 and have their direction of movementreversed thereby, they obviously inay be delivered to the depression 4 from over the structure 2 in which case they naturally move toward the abutment 18 and are also forced toward it by the action of the sections 12. With such an arrangementa the part 2 would be the wind box and the structure 3 would be the bridge wall.

I claim: i

1. A furnacen having a transversely extending ash receiving cavity; a transversely extending abutment plate mounted therein and having a substantially perpendicular ace; a step-formed structure in the bottom of the-cavity having crushing faces substantially parallel with the face of the abutment plate; and means for moving said structure toward and from the plate to crush the ashes and thereafter discharge the same. v

2. The combination in a furnace having a 'fuel burning portion; a bridge wall, and a cavity between said parts, of a step-formed said stepeformed structure; with means for moving said latter structure toward and from the abutment plate.

3. A furnace having a transversely extending ash receiving cavity; supporting rollers mounted in said cavity with their axes in a substantially horizontal plane; a step-formed Crusher having tracks engaging said rollers; means for reciprocating said Crusher in a substantially horizontal plane; and an abutment plate extending Substantially parallel to the operative faces of said crusher. I

4. A furnacel having a dead plate struc-` ture; a bridge wall spaced away from the Same to' form an ash receiving cavity; an abutment plate mounted in said cavity below said dead plate; a Crusher made in a series of sections having faces substantially parallel with the adjacent face of said plate; rollers supporting said crusher; and means for moving said Crusher in a horizontal plane toward and from the plate.

5. The combination in a furnace of a dead plate; a bridge Wall spaced away from t-he rear end of said plate to form a laterally -elongated relatively deep perpendicular opening; with means for moving the crusher toward and from the abutment plate.

In testimony whereof, L have signed my name to this specification, in the presence v of two subscribing Witnesses.

g MAXWELL ALPERN. Witnesses:

CHARLES L. SMITH, VERA LEONE SMiTH. 

